Charlie's report to the Home Secretary calls for the UK Border Force Budget to be increased by £250m, sets out how we can increase border security and pay for this by collecting funds at the UK border post-Brexit.

Charlie's expenses from September 2011 to mid February 2012 can now be seen here. Expenses include travel between London and Dover/Deal, office costs and the rent of the Whip Blackberry as well as the travel expenses of an intern who helped in the Westminster office.

Here Charlie publishes his latest expenses (Sept to Jan). Particular points to note are that car travel claims are now included and constituency office rental and services are provided by Dover & Deal Conservatives (it is cheaper to rent the office space for constituency based work and obtain the constituency based help in this way than hiring a separate constituency office).

The PDF file is quite big. It consists of all the expense invoices Charlie has submitted since being elected, honouring Charlie's pledge to be open, transparent and accountable on expenses.

Charlie does not claim for homes, food or furniture. Charlie claims for travel to and from Parliament and his home in Deal. He does not claim for travel around the constituency. The distance is 84 miles and works out at £33 each trip. Basically Charlie makes a trip to and from Deal every week. The Parliamentary expense system does not currently seem to make it possible to show the claims - Charlie intends to display travel claims as soon as he can find a way of doing so.

In this letter to the Secretary of State for Transport, Charlie makes the case against the sale of the Port of Dover. Instead he says it should become the People's Port and makes the case for the community to buy the Port.

2008 Centre for Policy Studies paper showing how for an average earning household with an average mortgage, disposable income after tax and housing costs has fallen in nominal terms by £950 since 2002.

2006 Centre for Policy Studies paper showing that average earnings growth over the last five years stagnated in real terms, while taxes and housing costs both increased. The result is that real disposable income (after tax and housing costs) has risen by 0.4% from £22,710 per employee in 2001 to just £22,807 per employee in 2005. In effect, pay rises have been consumed by increased taxes and housing costs.

This Autumn 2006 article by Stephen Hammond MP and Charlie Elphicke looks at how Conservative tax thinking is joined up more than people think and that the tax cutters and "stabilisers" are actually saying similar things.

Charlie Elphicke

Just as we all want the best for Dover & Deal, we want the best for Britain too. There is a reason ours is the only European country with the word "Great" in the title! These articles set out some ideas on how our nation can be greater still. You'll find even more articles by clicking on the links to www.conservativehome.com below.